Kansas City company unveils data service for farmers

Website allows comparison with similar fields

Crop sharing and big data are both part of the business plan for a Kansas City company that says its database can help farmers increase yields.

FarmLink, based in Kansas City, Mo., announced Tuesday that it was rolling out an online database called TrueHarvest Benchmark that farmers can use to find out how their corn, wheat and soybean fields compare to others with similar soil, sunlight and moisture.

Scott Robinson, president of FarmLink, said the company used data collected by combines over the past four years to map out fields and smaller parcels, down to the 150-square-foot “microfield.” Farmers can use the data to find fields that are most like their own and compare yields, he said.

The price to use the service is one bushel of corn per acre, hearkening back to when crop sharing was a common way for farmers to pay for rent. Instead of delivering a bushel of ears, however, farmers who chose to use the service would pay a deposit up front and the rest based on corn prices at harvest time.

The yields are ranked from the fifth to 95th percentile. Knowing how they compare will help farmers to decide where to invest their resources, Robinson said, because a change in seed, chemicals or equipment will make more of a difference in an underperforming field than one near the top of its class.

Ron LeMay, chairman and CEO of FarmLink, said the data also allows farmers to compare which techniques and products are leading to the best results on fields similar to theirs. FarmLink runs MachineryLink combine rental service but doesn’t manufacture its own products.

“We have no stake in this game other than a farmer’s increased success,” he said.